The head of the Court of Instruction number 41 of Madrid, Juan Carlos Peinado, has summoned Begoña Gómez, wife of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to testify as under investigation on July 5. The instructor summons her for the alleged commission of the crimes of corruption in the private sector and influence peddling, within the proceedings opened by Gómez’s professional relationship with various businessmen.
In addition, the judge has agreed to postpone the statements of several witnesses that were scheduled for this Thursday and has moved them to Sunday, June 16. It is completely unusual for witness appearances in a case under investigation without urgency to be held on a Sunday, but the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has explained that Judge Peinado is on call that day. The schedule of the appearances “will depend on the incidence of the service”, although all will be from 12:00, adds the TSJM statement.
The decision of the judge investigating the wife of the President of the Government has entered the final stretch of the European election campaign, which will be held next Sunday. There is more than a month left until the date on which Gómez’s appearance has been set, but the judge wanted to announce the summons this Tuesday, five days before the European elections. The former figure of accused calls her under investigation for the alleged commission of the crimes of corruption in the private sector and influence peddling, supposedly committed – according to the complaint filed by Manos Limpies – when trying to mediate for public aid to be granted to businessmen with whom he had collaborated professionally. Although the wife of the President of the Government was listed as being investigated in the case from the beginning of the investigation, her summons to be questioned marks a before and after in the case. Gómez will have to go to court at 10:00 a.m. on July 5 accompanied by her lawyer to defend herself against these accusations.
Legal sources had raised the possibility that the judge would postpone the decision of whether or not to summon Sánchez’s wife until after taking statements from several witnesses whose appearances were already scheduled, but the instructor has finally chosen to call Gómez as investigated before these statements were made, and after receiving the report from the Civil Guard that ruled out that there were any indications about the events reported by Manos Limpas. In the order in which he notifies her decision to summon Gómez, the judge assures that he had not summoned her until now “to avoid unfounded stigmatization.” He preferred to wait, he adds, for the Provincial Court’s resolution on the opening of the investigation and for several witnesses whom he had already summoned to testify. But, finally, he has chosen to wait only for the first of those elements: the Provincial Court’s endorsement of his investigation, although the magistrates who reviewed the case placed limits on the investigations.
The Court urged the judge to focus exclusively on the 10 million euros of aid received by a Temporary Business Union (UTE) linked to the businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés because he considers that the rest of the facts reported by Manos Cleans are “implausible”, have “ erroneous data” or, in the case of Gómez’s alleged influence in the rescue of the Globalia company, they respond to a “simple conjecture.” Regarding the awards received by Barrabés, the Court maintains that “sufficient objective data do appear to legitimize the initiation of the investigation.” This suspicion is based, mainly, on a letter of recommendation in favor of Barrabés signed by the president’s wife, which joined thirty other similar letters, including one from the Madrid City Council. However, a Civil Guard report delivered to the instructor, and reported by EL PAÍS, found no indication that these writings influenced the contracts awarded to this businessman.
The judge downplays the importance of this report, calling it “preliminary” and states that the Civil Guard has only relied on “the contents of the news that accompanied the initial complaint,” in reference to the complaint that gave rise to the investigation, which was exclusively based on news published by various digital media about the president’s wife.
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The instructor argues that the decision to summon Gómez now is “advisable” in order to achieve “an instruction that is as agile as possible,” as advocated by article 324 of the Criminal Procedure Law. In the order in which he approves the summons, the judge points out that, after the decision of the Court, it is confirmed “the existence of elements that justify this apparent initial suspicion of indications of the concurrence of elements of criminal acts by the person under investigation. ”. This summons is made, adds the instructor, “regardless of the fact that it has not yet been possible to carry out certain investigative procedures,” in reference to the statements of the witnesses who were summoned this Thursday.
The postponement of these appearances had been requested by Begoña Gómez’s lawyer, the former socialist minister Antonio Camacho, who that day had to attend another trial, that of the Nummaria case, which is held at the National Court and in which Camacho defends the actor Imanol Arias. In his writing, the judge stops to emphasize that the delay in these statements is due to causes “exclusively attributable to the professional obligations” of Gómez’s lawyer, whom he accuses of having refused to let another lawyer replace him in those appearances, despite the fact that, the instructor assures, “this is a common practice among lawyers, especially when it was not the statement of his own client.”
The postponed appearances are those of four employees and positions of Red.es, an organization dependent on the Ministry for Digital Transformation, which granted public aid to a UTE linked to businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés. He had previously participated in a master’s degree directed by Gómez. The witnesses who will have to appear on Sunday the 16th are David Cierco, who was general director of Red.es until 2021, and his replacement, Albert Martínez Lacambra. Luis Prieto and Ignacio Espejo-Saavedra, director of Digital Economy and deputy director of the Legal Department of said organization, respectively. Before these appearances, the judge plans to question businessman Barrabés this Friday, also as a witness, although his statement is pending a medical report after the witness has alleged health problems.
The instructor once again reproaches the Prosecutor’s Office for its decision to have appealed the order by which the investigation was opened. The public prosecutor’s office, the judge assures, acted “with unusual diligence and speed that is rarely common, if not never known.”
The judge continues to take steps without it being clear whether the investigation will remain in his hands or will pass to those of the European Prosecutor’s Office, which has asked Peinado for information on whether the case he is directing affects contracts signed with European funds. Community prosecutors are already analyzing the documentation of the procedure to determine if they are competent to investigate. In the event that they consider that it is their responsibility to carry out the investigation, they will exercise their right of attorney to take on the case. Sources from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office point out that the judge can disagre
e with this decision (it is not a request), but has the obligation to transfer the procedure and, if he does not agree, then raise a question of jurisdiction that would be resolved by the Supreme Court. The instructor has already opened a separate piece in the case on the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
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